Embodiments of the present invention relate to a notification system and, more particularly, to a warning system that provides notification of fallen wires.
Insulated conductors are wire conductors that are covered by an insulated shell, such as rubber, and are well-known in the art. Insulated conductors, sometimes called covered conductors, were developed to reduce failure rates compared to the more conventional bare-wire conductors, and improve security and reliability of the conductors. The additional investment cost of insulated conductors over bare-wire conductors is often fully compensated by savings in: line spacing, reduced maintenance, and a better reliability of an electrical network. Typically, insulated conductors are used in distribution systems, rather than larger transmission systems, and are thus positioned throughout neighborhoods and at lower elevations.
A significant advantage of insulated conductors over bare-wire conductors is each conductor can be positioned near/close to another conductor, and yet still remains insulated from one another. This close positioning significantly reduces line spacing between or among conductors. Accordingly, insulated conductors can be weaved through a number of trees to provide electricity to tree-dense areas. Another advantage of insulated conductors is they can be in direct contact with an object, for example, a tree, and this contact will not create a short circuit or a cause a fire. Moreover, insulated conductors can eliminate the need of large, elongated, external insulators.
Insulated conductors are most often positioned between tree limbs, branches, and trunks, and thus are sometimes referred to as “tree wires.” Frequently, the tree wires fall due to a tree, branch, or pole falling upon them. As a result, the insulated conductor can lie on the ground. Although a short circuit does not exist due to the insulation properties of the conductor covering, if a person were to touch the insulated conductor, the person could be severely injured, even fatally.
When insulated conductors fall, utility companies, particularly power companies, need to be notified as soon as possible. Utility companies currently have procedures in place to notify them of fallen power lines, but typically these procedures are effective only if the conductors create a short circuit condition. This notification system relies upon relays or fuses to detect the high current conditions and subsequently de-energize the line.
In order to determine whether the insulated conductor is down, the power company must send out one or more line operators to “drive the lines”, or drive along the insulated conductors to visually confirm whether an insulated conductor is down. Driving the lines is an expensive task and relies on human perfection; plus, it wastes valuable time. If an insulated conductor fell, and the line operator were to arrive after a person grabbed the insulated conductor, an unfortunate, and rather serious, injury could occur.